Sarah Koval is a musicologist at the University of Mississippi and holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University. She is currently on a longterm fellowship at the Folger Shakespeare Library. Her research explores questions of music’s use and meaning in everyday life, primarily in early modern Europe. Her book project, Tuning the Body: Musical and Health in Early Modern England, is a cultural history of music’s role in household healthcare based on evidence found in manuscript recipe books. Her work has been supported by fellowships and grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Villa I Tatti, The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, and others.
Upcoming Talks
Title TBA, Folger Shakespeare Library Salon, Feb. 12, 2026
“Musical Charity and the Dissolution of the Monasteries in Early Modern London,” Renaissance Society of America, San Francisco, Feb. 20, 2026
